USA > South Carolina > The history of South Carolina under the proprietary government, 1670-1719, V.2 > Part 18
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The fleet and force for the expedition having been thus provided, the question arose as to the command of it. All eyes were, of course, turned to Rhett. whose naval experience and recent success rendered him at once the person to whose lead the colonists looked. Richard Allein, the Attorney General, in his opening address to the jury in the first trial, declared that Colonel William Rhett was the chief, if not the first, promoter of the fit- ting out of the expedition which had captured Bonnet and his party; 1 but Rhett, who was of uncertain and fiery temper, had quarrelled with Johnson in consequence of some action of the Governor in connection with that expedition, and he now held back. Governor Johnson
1 Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet, etc., 9.
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determined, therefore, to take command himself of this enterprise and to lead the fleet against the pirates in person at the earliest possible moment. This course of the Governor infused confidence, and in a few days 300 volunteers were on board the vessels awaiting orders to sail. But a serious delay was still to be met. The masters of the impressed vessels made no objection to giving their personal services to the colony, but their owners were to be considered, and they now entered a formal protest. strongly representing that some security should be given by the government to indemnify them for injury or capture of their vessels by the pirates. Hughson states that Governor Johnson recognized the justice of their plea and immediately convened an extra session of the Assembly and laid the case before it, and that the Assembly without delay voted a bill to secure the ship-owners against all losses and expenses.1 No such act can, however, be found ; and as the journals of the Assembly for this year are missing, no record of it has been preserved. However settled, these proceedings delayed the expedition for about a week; but in the meantime scout-boats had been stationed along the shore of the islands, at the entrance of the harbor, to resist any attempt on the part of the enemy to land, and at the same time an embargo was laid on all shipping.
While the Governor was thus busily engaged endeavor- ing to organize this expedition. the captured pirates, it appears. had found some friends in the town who had created disturbances under cover of which to effect their release, and that Bonnet and Herriot had actually escaped.2
1 Hughson. Johns Hopkins Unie. Studies, V, VI, VII, 115.
2 Mr. Thomas Hepworth, who assisted the Attorney General in the prosecution, refers to such disturbances; but. save this passing remark, there is no other allusion in the accounts of the times to any such trouble. Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet, 11 ; State Trials, vol. XIV, 1249.
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Ramsay states that Bonnet escaped in the disguise of a woman's clothing. 1 which would have been no matter of surprise considering the looseness of his confinement. Pell, the boatswain, refused to fly with Bonnet and Herriot. The escape was made on the 25th of October.
Governor Johnson immediately issued a proclamation offering a reward of £700 for the capture of the fugitive, sent "hue and cry" and expresses by land and water throughout the whole province, and dispatched several boats with armed men in pursuit. Bonnet, it appears, had effected his escape in a canoe with an Indian and a negro. In this small craft he put to sea, in the hope, probably. of joining Moody's vessel, of the presence of which off the bar he was no doubt informed, or of reach- ing again the Cape Fear; but it happened that on that day the pirate vessel supposed to have been Moody's was far away -- indeed, it was off Cape Henry, engaged in the capture of the ship Eagle Galley.2 Bonnet was entirely without provisions, the weather was tempestuous, and he was forced to return to Sullivan's Island. There he hid for some days.
In the meanwhile, amidst the excitement and confusion of Bonnet's escape, and of the preparation of the expedi- tion against the other pirates on the coast. the court which had been provided for by the act of the 18th of October met and organized on the 28th; and while the Governor was getting ready to put to sea against Moody. as he supposed, the court proceeded to the trial of the rest of Bonnet's crew. Nicholas Trott. Judge of Vice Ad- miralty and Chief Justice of the province, presided, with George Logan. Alexander Parris, Philip Dawes, George Chicken, Benjamin de La Conseillère, Samuel Dean, Ed-
1 Hist. of So. Ca., 204, note. 2 No. Cu. Adm. Ct. Rec. Book, A and B. 28
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ward Brailsford. John Croft, Captain Arthur Loan. and Captain John Watkins as assistant judges. The grand jury was formed. with Michael Brewton foreman.
Judge Trott proceeded to charge the grand jury upon the subject of piracy. His charge was a most learned one, exhibiting extensive erudition, quoting from many authors in Latin and Greek, and, though it would be re- garded to-day as pedantic, was a most able exposition of the law of the case. He first traced the history of the constitution and jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty from the earliest time, and explained the design and effect of the act 28 Henry VIII. whereby pirates were thereafter to be tried according to the course of the common law. and defined and expounded the law of piracy, as modified by that statute. adopted in the province in 1712, under which the accused were to be tried.1 An indictment was given out against Stede Bonnet and several others of his company, and the court adjourned. The next day other indictments were given out, and true bills found. On the 30th a petit jury was organized, and the case proceeded ; in the absence of Bonnet, Robert Tucker and others were brought to the bar and put upon their trial. Richard Allein, the Attorney General. rehearsed the recent deeds of the pirates. He was sorry, he said. to hear some ex- pressions drop from private persons (he hoped there were none of them upon the jury) in favor of the pirates, and particularly of Bonnet ; " that he is a gentleman and a man of honor, a man of fortune, and one that has bad a liberal education. Alas, Gentlemen," he said. "all these quali-
1 This charge is quoted at some length by a learned writer, Phillimore, of the College of Advocates, in his Commentaries apan International La. as correctly defining the law of piracy ; and a list of the authorities cited by Trott is given in a note to his work. Phillimore's International Law, CCCLVI. Law Library ed., 280.
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fications are but several aggravations of his crimes," etc. He had in his hand, he stated. an account of above thirty- eight vessels taken by Bonnet. in company with Thatch, in the West Indies since the 5th of April before. The Attorney General was followed by Mr. Thomas Hepworth, to whose address to the jury reference has already been made. Then Ignatius Pell. who had refused to fly with Bonnet and had turned State's evidence, was put on the stand, and upon his testimony, and that of the captains of the vessels that had been captured by Bonnet, Tucker and four others were found guilty. The court proceeded from day to day with the trial of others. The conviction of seventeen others rapidly followed; four were acquitted.
The accused had no counsel; but it is a mistake to suppose, as has been asserted, that this was because of the provision of the Fundamental Constitutions declaring it "a base and vile thing to plead for money or reward," and that hence the members of the bar of the colony were unwilling to undertake the cause of the accused, for which they could receive no remuneration. 1 That provision was never of any more force in the colony than any other of that extraordinary body of laws. The simpler explana- tion of the absence of counsel is that under the law of England then, and for more than a century after, crimi- nals were not allowed counsel in any case except of trea- son. It was not until 1836, as we have already said. that counsel was so allowed in England. Piracy, it is true, was held to be in the nature of treason ; but these pirates were indicted for felony under the statute of Henry VIII. and so were not entitled to counsel under the exception in regard to trials for treason.
Governor Johnson was nearly ready to embark with his fleet when information was brought him that Bonnet was 1 Hughson, Johns Hopkins Unic. Studies. 2 series. V, VI, VII, 105.
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hiding on Sullivan's Island, and though Colonel Rhett would not take part in the expedition against the pirates at sea, he readily accepted a commission to effect the recapture of Bonnet. The Governor sailed with the fleet on the 4th of November, and Rhett went that night to Sullivan's Island. He searched diligently for a long time in the sand hills among the dense myrtle and cedar. which afforded so many hiding-places, before he found the fugitives. But at the last he did so, when some of his party fired. Herriot fell dead ; the negro and the Indian were wounded. Bonnet submitted and surrendered him- self. and the next morning, being the 6th of November, Colonel Rhett brought him to the town.
Several days before the Governor's fleet was ready for sea. the boats off Sullivan's Island sighted a ship and a sloop which, coming up to the bar, dropped anchor and attempted to land. They were prevented by the guards. however, who made a hostile demonstration on their ap- proach, and for three days the two strange craft lay quietly at their moorings, making no movement calcu- lated to arouse further suspicions.
Late on the evening of November 4. the Governor's fleet sailed down the harbor and anchored several hun- dred yards below Fort Johnson, which commanded the main entrance to the port. Orders had been issued for every movement to be made with the least demonstration possible, and the vessels reached their anchorage without being detected by the pirates, who had again returned to the mouth of the harbor. The Governor's fleet lay quiet all night. and as the gray mist of early morning crept slowly over the ocean. Governor Johnson, from the deck of his flagship. the Mediterranean. signalled his consorts to weigh anchor and follow him. The commander of each vessel had been carefully instructed before the fleet
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had left the town. No warlike display was to be made until the final moment ; and the four vessels now steered in the direction of the pirate fleet with the guns all under cover. and the men below decks. By eight o'clock they were close to the enemy. The deception was complete. Mistaking them for merchantmen, the pirate ship promptly weighed anchor, and stood on toward the mouth of the harbor to intercept the retreat which they were certain would be attempted. Having placed themselves between the South Carolinians and the harbor, they now hoisted the black flag, and called on the King William to sur- render. At this moment Johnson ran the King's colors to the masthead of the Mediterranean, threw open his ports, and delivered a broadside which swept the decks of the nearest vessel with murderous effect. Before the pirates had recovered from the consternation into which they were thrown by this action. the South Carolinians bore down upon them and began the battle in desperate earnest, and at the closest possible quarters. The hatches were thrown open, the men rushed from below the decks heavily armed. while the sixty-eight guns of the combined Heet poured broadside after broadside into the pirates, who were now hemmed in between the shore and Governor Johnson's vessels. By skilful management, however, the pirate ship escaped from her precarious position, and made all sail possible in order to elude the desperate chase of the South Carolinans. Johnson signalled the Sea Nymph. and the Royal James, or the Revenge, as she was now called, to look to the sloop, while he, in company with the King William, made hot pursuit after the ship, which seemed to have every chance of escape.
The pirate sloop, which carried six guns and forty men, unable to reach the open sea, was now vigorously attacked by Hall and Masters. The pirates defended themselves
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with a valor worthy of a better cause, and for four hours, with the vessels almost yard-arm to yard-arm, they main- tained a struggle as tierce as any ever known in these waters which have so often been stirred by hostile forces. Finally they were forced to abandon their guns, and many sought shelter in the hold from the terrible fire which was sweeping the vessel from stem to stern. A few moments later the South Carolinians boarded her, despite the des- perate resistance made by the captain and the men who remained to meet them. Reaching the decks, the attack- ing party made quick work of the pirates, although the latter defended themselves with the desperation of men who realized that they had but one chance left to them for life. In a short time every man above decks, includ- ing the chief, who fought to the death with the fury of a lion, was either killed or disabled, and the boarding party found itself in undisputed possession of the vessel. The men who had fled into the hold surrendered without another blow, and a few hours later the sloop, with her surviving crew in irons, was carried into Charles Town in triumph. The struggle, says Hughson, which took place almost within sight of the town. created the most tremendous excitement among the inhabitants, which arose to a pitch of almost indescribable exultation as the throng along the wharves saw the Sea Nymph and the Revenge rounding the harbor, the royal ensign at the masthead signalling their victory.
Governor Johnson, while not forced to such desperate fighting as his subordinates of the Revenge and the Sea Nymph. had a long. hard chase after the fleeing ship, and did not come up with her until the middle of the after- noon. During the pursuit the pirate, abandoned the defence and bent every energy to effect his escape. He lightened the ship in every possible way, and even threw
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over the guns and the boats, but all to no avail. The South Carolinians had the fastest sailers, and as soon as they came within range Governor Johnson ordered the King William to open fire. The first discharge raked the sloop, killing two of the crew, and "having received a shot between wind and water," the pirates hauled down the black flag and made an unconditional surrender.
When the hatches were opened, to the great surprise of the captors, it was discovered that the hold of the ship was crowded with women : and upon investigation the vessel proved to be the Eagle, bound from London to Virginia and Maryland with 106 convicts and "covenant servants,"-whom it was designed to settle in those colo- nies, -thirty-six of whom were women. The Eagle had been captured by the pirate sloop, which was known as the New York Revenge, near Cape Henry, and converted into a tender. Six guns had been placed in her, and her name was changed to the New York Revenge, and John Cole had been given the command. A large number of the crew and of the convicts allied themselves to the pirates. while those who refused to join them were held as prisoners.
A still more serious surprise, continues the author from whom this account of the expedition is taken, awaited the Governor, however, on his return to Charles Town to look after the issue of the conflict between the sloop and the rest of his fleet. It was ascertained that the captured vessels did not belong to Moody at all, nor did the cap- tive erews have any connection whatever with him. The commander, who had been killed on board the sloop. proved to be another still more famous pirate, one Richard Worley, who had terrorized the coast in the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia but a few weeks previous. Governor Johnson was naturally much gratified at having
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exterminated so dangerous a company of villains, but the question as to the whereabouts of Moody was still one of vital interest to the colony. The statements of the pris- oners were certainly not above suspicion, and no one could say positively that Worley's crew was not a part of Moody's company. It was altogether possible, if not probable, that Moody was hovering within the headlands of one of the neighboring harbors, and would, if in his power, wreak a cruel revenge on the colony for the capt- ure and slaughter of his comrades.
To guard against the possibility of a sudden descent on the port, Johnson determined to maintain his fleet in a state of thorough organization until he was satisfied that all danger was past. A few days afterwards the public anxiety was relieved by the arrival of the Minerva. Captain Smyter, from the Madeira Isles, who reported that he had been taken off the bar by Moody, who, about the same time, received information of the preparations which were being made in Charles Town to capture him. He had accordingly taken the Minerva about a hundred leagues out to sea, where he had plundered her, after which he set sail for New Providence, in order to avail himself of the King's proclamation, which had been brought out by Governor Woodes Rogers.
It was a time of the greatest excitement. Stirring and startling events followed each other in rapid succession. Governor Johnson had sailed with his fleet on the evening of the 4th of November. The next day, the 5th, while the Governor was engaged in battle off the bar with Worley. Rhett had recaptured Bonnet on Sullivan's Island, while. on the same day. the trial of Bonnet's crew was brought to a close, and twenty-two of them sentenced to death. Bonnet was brought to town on the 6th. Two days after, the 8th. the twenty-two convicted were executed, and, on
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the 10th. Bonnet himself was arraigned on two indict- ments. One of them charged him with piracy in taking the sloop Francis. Captain Manwaering, and the other with piracy in taking the sloop Fortune. Captain Read.1
Mr. Hepworth opened the case for the prosecution, and Ignatius Pell. Bonnet's boatswain. was put on the stand. Pell appears to have had some affection for Bonnet, and to have testified reluctantly against his master; but, as his own life was at stake, he could not shield him. By the theory of the English law, counsel was not necessary for the defence. as it was the duty of the judge to see that the accused had a fair trial. and to take care of his interests ; but that was but a poor protection under such a judge as Trott, whose tyrannical conduct on the bench was one of the causes of the fast approaching overthrow of the Proprietors.
There could be no doubt of Bonnet's guilt, but his calm and dignified bearing at the trial elicits. even at this day, some sympathy for him, and provokes resentment against Trott's overbearing conduct. The Chief Justice availed himself of the practice of the times to interrogate the accused as well as the witnesses. and thus to expose the weak points in his case.2 Bonnet met the judge's interrogations with self-possession, and. when he could not offer an explanation, was silent. His defence was that he had honestly intended to proceed to St. Thomas. but had been overpowered by his crew and forced to con- tinue in his piratical course. The plea was a weak one. and easily disposed of by the judge; but, not content to do so. Trott did not hesitate to bring into Bonnet's case
1 Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet, AT.
2 This practice was abolished, and prisoners exempted from interroga- tion by the judge. at the same time as they were allowed counsel on their trial. - Encyclopedia Britannica. "Criminal Law," Edmund Robertson.
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the testimony taken in the former trials, at which Bonnet had not been present, and upon such inadmissible testi- mony to declare the charges proved against him. He was convicted on the first indictment that day. Upon his arraignment the next, on the second indictment, he with- drew his plea of not guilty. On the third day, the 12th, he was sentenced to death.
In sentencing Bonnet, Trott delivered one of his re- markable charges abounding with quotations from the Scriptures, with which this remarkable man showed him- self as familiar as he was with the civil and common law.
"You being a Gentleman that have had the advantage of liberal education and being generally esteemed a man of Letters I believe it will be needless for me to explain to you the nature of Repentance and Faith in Christ they being so fully and so often explained in the Scriptures that you cannot but know them. And therefore perhaps for that reason it might be thought by some improper for me to have said so much to you as I have already upon this occasion; neither should I have done it, but that considering the course of your life and actions, I have just reason to fear that the Principles of Religion that had been instilled into you by your Education have been at least cor- rupted if not entirely defaced by the Sceptism and Infidelity of this wicked age; and that what Time you allowed for Study was rather applied to Polite Literature; and the vain Philosophy of the Times than to a serious Search after the Law and Will of God, as revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. For had your Delight been in the Law of the Lord, and that you had meditated therein Day and Night Psal 1-2 you would then have found that Gods Word mas a Lamp unto your Feet, and a Light to your Path Psal: 119-105, and that you would account all other knowledge but Loss in comparison of the Excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus Phil 3-5 who to them that are called is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God I Cor: 1. 24. even as the hid- den Wisdom which God ordained before the World. Chap: 2-7." 1
And more. much more. to the same effect.
1 Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet, 44; Howell's Stute Trials, vol. XV, 1234-1302.
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Bonnet had, under the circumstances, borne up bravely enough during his trial ; but upon his sentence his courage and resolution failed, and the most abject and pusillani- mous appeals for mercy were made by him both to the Governor and to Colonel Rhett, his captor. To Colonel Rhett he wrote, imploring his intercession, insisting before "God, the knower of all secrets," that he was himself but a prisoner when he lay with Thatch off Charles Town bar; that he had been coerced in his course : that he had hailed with joy his capture by Rhett, as affording him an opportunity of disengaging himself from the wicked people with whom he had been associated.1 To Governor Johnson he addressed the most piteous and extraordinary appeal. Throwing himself at the Governor's feet. he implored him "to look upon him with tender bowells of pity and compassion." and to believe him the most miserable man that day breathing. "That the tears proceeding from my most sorrowful soul may soften your heart and incline you to consider my dismal state wholly. I must confess, unprepared to receive so soon the dreadful execution you have been pleased to appoint me; and therefore beseech you to think me an object of your mercy." In his abject misery he begged for life, for life only, on any terms.
"I heartily beseech you'll perunit me to live." he wrote to the Goy- ernor, "and I'll voluntarily put it ever out of my Power by separating all my Limbs from my Body, ouly reserving the use of my Tongue to call continually on, and pray to the Lord, my God and mourn all my Days in Sackcloth and Ashes to work out Confident hopes of my Sal- vation, at that great and dreadful Day when all righteous Souls shall receive their just rewards. And to render your Honour a further Assurance of my being incapable to prejudice any of my Fellow Chris- tians, if I was so wickedly bent. I humbly beg you will (as a Punish- ment of my Sins for my poor Soul's Sake) indent me as a menial ser-
1 Letter in note, Ramsay's Hist. of So. Ca., vol. I, 204.
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vant to your Honour, and this Government during my Life, and send me up to the fartherest inland Garrison or Settlement in the Country or in any other ways you'll be pleased to dispose of me."
Like Trott, he showed himself familiar with Holy. Writ. and concluded his appeal in the words of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews.
"Now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus. that great Shepherd of the Sheep, thro' the Blood of the everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do his Will, working in you. that which is well pleasing in his Sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever is the hearty Prayer of " Your Honour's Most miserable and Afflicted servant "STEDE BONNET."1
It was indeed a remarkable incident. that of the famil- iarity thus shown with the sacred Scriptures on the part alike of a corrupt judge and of a bloody pirate. Despite the desperate character of the culprit. so pitiful was his behavior that the sympathies of the public were greatly aroused in his behalf, and much pressure was brought to bear on Governor Johnson to induce him to grant either a pardon or a commutation of his sentence. Bonnet him- self was desirous of being carried to England, so as to have his case brought directly to the attention of the King. His appeal to Colonel Rhett so excited that gentleman's interest in his behalf. that he is said to have offered to carry him. and ample security was also tendered for his safe delivery to the home authorities. But Governor Johnson knew what the province had suffered at the hands of the pirates, and he would listen to no proposi- tion, nor parley with them or their friends. He had no sympathy with the movement to procure a stay of Bon- net's execution, and was unswerving in his determination that he should die in accordance with the sentence of the
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